Thousands March On London Ahead of G20

‘Put People First’ – that was the message tens of thousands of protesters wanted to spell out as they hit the streets of London.

With demonstrations taking place across Europe, the event marked the start of action ahead of next week’s G20 summit in the British capital.

Groups as diverse as trade unions, aid agencies as well as environmental and religious activists gathered to demand more action on jobs, poverty and climate change.

Hannah Sell from the Socialist Workers party said: “The message that we want to send to the G20 is that ordinary people should not have to pay for this capitalist crisis. The leaders of the G20 are bailing out the banks, saving the finance system but there is nothing effective being done for ordinary people.”

Organisers of the London march said the event would pass off peacefully, but authorities took no chances, putting a big security operation in place.